Discover the Best Budgie Alternatives for Your Desktop Experience
Budgie is renowned as the flagship desktop environment of the Solus Operating System, part of the wider Solus Project. It stands out for its commitment to simplicity and elegance, built from scratch with tight integration into the GNOME stack. While Budgie offers a unique and modern user experience, you might be looking for a Budgie alternative that better suits your workflow, system resources, or personal preferences. Whether you seek more customization, a lighter footprint, or a different aesthetic, the world of desktop environments is rich with choices.
Top Budgie Alternatives
If you're considering a switch from Budgie, or simply exploring other desktop environments that offer similar or distinct advantages, you're in the right place. We've compiled a list of excellent alternatives, each bringing its own strengths to the table, from lightweight design to extensive customization options.
Xfce
Xfce is a free and open-source desktop environment popular for Unix-like platforms such as Linux and BSD. It aims to be lightweight while remaining visually appealing and user-friendly, making it an excellent Budgie alternative if you prioritize performance and lower resource consumption. Key features include its lightweight nature, extensibility by plugins/extensions, and modular system design.
GNOME
GNOME 3 offers an easy and elegant way to use your computer, designed to give users control and efficiency. As Budgie itself integrates with the GNOME stack, GNOME provides a familiar yet distinct Budgie alternative, especially if you appreciate a modern, clean interface. It's a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and BSD, boasting features like a robust desktop environment, extensibility via plugins and extensions, and optimal performance.
KDE Plasma
KDE Plasma is a highly customizable cross-device work environment developed by the KDE Community. If you're looking for a Budgie alternative that offers unparalleled customization options, Plasma is a strong contender. It's free and open-source, available on Linux, BSD, and postmarketOS, and features include extensive customizability, blurry transparency, a powerful desktop environment, extensibility, full-text search, lightweight design, and optimization for fastboot mode.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon is a Linux desktop environment that combines advanced innovative features with a traditional user experience, often compared to older Windows interfaces but with modern polish. It's a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and BSD, making it a solid Budgie alternative for users who prefer a more classic desktop layout while still benefiting from contemporary advancements.
MATE
MATE is a direct fork of GNOME 2, catering to users who appreciated the classic GNOME experience before GNOME 3. If you find Budgie's modern aesthetic a bit too minimalist and prefer a more traditional, straightforward desktop, MATE is an excellent free and open-source Budgie alternative available on Linux, BSD, FreeBSD, OpenIndiana, and GhostBSD. It focuses on providing a stable and familiar desktop environment.
LXDE
The "Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment" (LXDE) lives up to its name, offering extremely fast performance and energy efficiency. For users on older hardware or those who demand the absolute lightest footprint, LXDE is a strong free and open-source Budgie alternative available for Linux and BSD. Its core features include being lightweight, a capable desktop environment, and relying on the X server.
LXQt
LXQt is the Qt port and the successor to LXDE, born from the merge of LXDE and Razor-qt. It aims to provide a modern, lightweight desktop experience while maintaining the efficiency of its predecessor. As a free and open-source desktop environment for Linux and BSD, LXQt is an excellent Budgie alternative for users seeking a balance between modern aesthetics and low resource usage, featuring lightweight design, a full desktop environment, and X server compatibility.
Cairo Shell
Cairo Shell is a desktop environment specifically designed for Windows, aiming to enhance productivity and advance current technology standards. While Budgie is Linux-centric, if you're a Windows user looking for a highly customizable and feature-rich desktop shell as a complete departure from the default Windows experience, Cairo Shell is a free and open-source Budgie alternative for your platform, offering customizability, a full desktop environment, and multiple desktops.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment is more than just a window manager; it's a comprehensive suite of libraries designed to help create beautiful user interfaces with less effort. Available as a free and open-source option for Mac, Linux, and BSD, Enlightenment serves as a unique Budgie alternative for those who appreciate highly customizable and visually distinct environments that remain lightweight and efficient.
CDE (Common Desktop Environment)
The Common Desktop Environment (CDE) was a collaborative effort by major tech companies and became a standard on commercial UNIX systems. Now available as a free and open-source option for Linux and BSD, CDE offers a highly traditional and robust desktop environment. It serves as a historical yet still functional Budgie alternative for users seeking a retro, stable, and established interface.
The perfect desktop environment is a matter of personal preference, system compatibility, and specific needs. We encourage you to explore these Budgie alternatives, perhaps even trying a few in a virtual machine, to discover which one provides the best fit for your ideal computing experience.